LexMAL: A quick and reliable lexical test for Malay speakers

Lee, Soon Tat; van Heuven, Walter J. B.; Price, Jessica M.; Leong, Christine Xiang Ru

Abstract

Objective language proficiency measures have been found to provide better and more consistent estimates of bilinguals’ language processing than self-rated proficiency (e.g., Tomoschuk et al., 2019; Wen & van Heuven, 2017a). However, objectively measuring language proficiency is often not possible because of a lack of quick and freely available language proficiency tests (Park et al., 2022). Therefore, quick valid vocabulary tests, such as LexTALE (Lemhöfer & Broersma, 2012) and its extensions (e.g., LexITA: Amenta et al., 2020; LEXTALE-FR: Brysbaert, 2013; LexPT: Zhou & Li, 2022) have been developed to reliably assess language proficiency of speakers of various languages. The present study introduces a Lexical Test for Malay Speakers (LexMAL), which estimates language proficiency for Malay first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers. An initial 180-item LexMAL prototype was evaluated using 60 Malay L1 and 60 L2 speakers in Experiment 1. Sixty words and 30 nonwords with the highest discriminative power that span across the full difficulty range were selected for the final LexMAL based on point-biserial correlations and an item response theory analysis. The validity of LexMAL was demonstrated through a reliable discrimination between L1 and L2 speakers, significant correlations between LexMAL scores and performance on other Malay language tasks (i.e., translation accuracy and cloze test scores), and LexMAL outperforming self-rated proficiency. A validation study (Experiment 2) with the 90-item final LexMAL tested with a different group of Malay L1 (N = 61) and L2 speakers (N = 61) replicated the findings of Experiment 1. LexMAL is freely available for researchers at www.lexmal.org.

Citation

Lee, S. T., van Heuven, W. J. B., Price, J. M., & Leong, C. X. R. (2024). LexMAL: A quick and reliable lexical test for Malay speakers. Behavior Research Methods, 56, 4563–4581. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02202-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 17, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Sep 1, 2023
• Publication Date: 2024-08
• Deposit Date: Sep 4, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 4, 2023
• Journal: Behavior Research Methods
• Print ISSN: 1554-351X
• Electronic ISSN: 1554-3528
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 56
• Pages: 4563–4581
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02202-5
• Keywords: Language proficiency; Malay; Vocabulary test; Bilingualism
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/24871142
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13428-023-02202-5
• Additional Information: Accepted: 17 July 2023; First Online: 1 September 2023; : ; : The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.; : This study has been reviewed and approved by the University of Nottingham Malaysia Science and Engineering Research Ethics Committee (Application Identification Number: LST150221).; : Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.; : Not applicable.